June 16, 2011 –Eritrea – Volcanic activity has increased at the Nabro volcano in Eritrea, just four days after the stratovolcano sent an ash plume more than 15km into the air. The ash drifted west northwest over Sudan Wednesday evening threatening to bring further disruption to air traffic in the east Africa region. Sunday night’s eruption led to some flight cancellations in neighboring Sudan, Djibouti and Ethiopia, and saw a massive ash plume being carried as far away as Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkmenistan, the Central African Republic and Egypt. The MODIS Terra 1km True Colour satellite image, captured Wednesday afternoon, shows the ash plume drifting hundreds of kilometers west of Nabro. Part of the Afar Triangle, Nabro is one of many volcanic caldera complexes in the north easternmost part of the East African Rift valley region. The stratovolcano is located in the Danakil Depression, close to Eritrea’s border with Ethiopia and north of Djibouti, and has not erupted in at least 150 years. It is the most prominent of 3 large volcanoes (Nabro, Dubbi, Mallahle) in the region, each containing a large summit caldera. Nabro comprises lava domes, lava flows, and two calderas, 8 and 5 km in diameter. The volcano is located along the Great Rift Valley, also known as the East African Rift. the divergent plate boundary extends from the Afar Triple Junction southward across eastern Africa, and is in the process of splitting the African Plate into two new separate plates, the Nubian Plate and the Somali Plate. Seismic activity is frequent in Ethiopia. In 1961 alone three thousand tremors were recorded from the centre of the Wollo province resulting in a 20km fissure being opened on the slopes of the Borkena graben. –Irish Weather on-line See:African Rift

11 Responses to 2nd eruption at Eritrean volcano more powerful than the first

New York (Tadias) – The ash cloud from the Eritrean volcano that erupted earlier this week has temporarily rendered parts of East Africa’s air space unsafe for commercial jets to fly, even as the Geophysical Observatory Center of Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa University said the intensity from eruptions at the Nabro volcano appear to be subsiding. Experts say that particles in the ash could stall jet engines and could bring down passenger planes.

More airline companies have followed Ethiopian and Lufthansa in announcing further suspensions of flights to the region.

According to BBC, Kenya Airways said it was no longer flying on the Ethiopia-Djibouti route and Dubai’s Emirates airline said it had canceled flights to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Both Ethiopian Airlines and Lufthansa announced on Tuesday that some of their flights have been disrupted.

“Due to the volcanic eruption that resulted in ash cloud, Ethiopian flights to Northern Ethiopia, Khartoum and Djibouti (resumed on June 15th) are currently affected,” Ethiopian Airlines said in a statement via its website.

It’s part of the geological process. When the magma wells up beneath continental crust, the crust is elevated. stretched and thinned. This produces fractures, faults, rift valley, and volcanic activity. As the mantle is incinerated, magma rises to the surface. The Gulf of Aden swarms, the quakes beneath the Red Sea and now the massive eruption of Nabro are all dire indications of how the tearing or rifting of the continent of Africa is now accelerating.

Ilvar Khorstoon on June 18, 2011, 1:44 PM
According to the article presented by @Renato, Nabro once produced a blast between VEI-6 and VEI-7. However we shall take into account that estimates are highly based on analysis from satellite pics, with several speculative inferences. Knowing how satellites can be tricky sometimes, while giving credit to the large extension of ignimbrite fields, I would consider “at least VEI-6”. Shortly – we have a bit of a Krakatoa there.

Disclaimer – this does not mean it will blast like Krakatoa. Volcanoes are tricky and we have clearly seen that in other volcanoes recently. But the potential is there.